Conventionally, there have been known drive units for driving a target body to be driven using an actuator. A drive unit disclosed in Patent Document 1 is an example of such drive units.
The drive unit disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a stage as a target body to be driven, two first actuators for driving the target body in a predetermined X direction and two second actuators for driving the target body in a Y direction which is perpendicular to the X direction.
Each of the first and second actuators is formed of a piezoelectric element having a rectangular shape when viewed from the top and generates longitudinal vibration and bending vibration. Each of the first and second actuators is provided so as to be in contact with the stage and, in this state, the piezoelectric elements are configured to generate longitudinal vibration and bending vibration, so that the stage is moved by friction force between each of the actuators and the stage. Specifically, the stage can be moved in any direction between the X direction and the Y direction by adjusting a moving distance of the stage by the first actuators and a moving distance of the stage by the second actuators.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. Hi 1-235063